APA Dictionary of Psychology

the hypothesis that there is a correspondence of some kind between the sounds of words and their referents, as opposed to an arbitrary relationship. Most schools of modern linguistics are based on the premise that words are essentially arbitrary symbols, the only exceptions being a small number of onomatopoeic coinages (see onomatopoeia). However, it is an observable fact that most languages contain clusters of words (mainly monosyllables) in which a similarity of sound seems to reflect a similarity of reference; an example in English would be the large cluster track, trail, train, traipse, tramp, travel, trawl, tread, trek, trip, trot, truck, trudge, and so on. Believers in phonetic symbolism would argue that for English speakers (at least), the sound [tr] and the physical actions involved in articulating it must have a deep psychological correspondence with the ideas of travel and laborious movement. Others would dismiss such speculations entirely, arguing that these word clusters can be explained by shared etymology, simple association of ideas, and coincidence. Also called sound symbolism.